


Death is Highly Underrated

by ChipsAndDip (ChippyDip)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hatake Kakashi Needs a Hug, Hurt/Comfort, Invasion of Pein Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-28 10:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChippyDip/pseuds/ChipsAndDip
Summary: Kakashi came back from death seemingly unscathed.  Kakashi is also extremely good at hiding physical, mental, and emotional injuries.  Every man has their breaking point, though.  Maybe he didn't want to come back after all.





	1. Just Don't Think About It

**Author's Note:**

> I always questioned whether or not a dead man's injuries remained when Pein resurrected half the goddamn Leaf Village, so take this self-indulgent fic as my way of getting another few scenes out of my head. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Kakashi learned much from his time in ANBU: where exactly to throw a kunai to hit six vital organs at once, how to target certain pressure points to give the illusion of death, how to emotionally and mentally block out physical pain for a given amount of time. 

Granted, that last one was mostly for use in terms of torture and interrogation situations. However, Kakashi found other uses for it in his regular jonin life. 

Forcing his body upwards into a standing position and with intentions of running towards the last traces of his student’s chakra after being dead only two minutes before probably wasn’t originally what ANBU had in mind. 

He never specified healthy uses.

He had been dead. Physically, mentally, completely—nope.

Kakashi waved off Choji and Choza’s hands as they tried to keep him still. Their voices blurred together, worried and kind, and he thought he could just make out ‘don’t move’ ‘crushed’ ‘chakra exhaustion’ ‘Kakashi-sensei’ ‘Kakashi’, but the blood pumping through his ears drowned out anything else. Images flooded his scattered mind, and he dimly realized that he was watching the destruction of his home and his people from the eyes of a metric-fuck-ton of medical chakra slugs. 

His legs pushed down on the rocky ground and his hands came up to use the two Akimichis as human supports as he fought against gravity. His training kicked in immediately; a part of his subconscious mind shut off and the shakiness in his limbs stilled. The throbbing pain of bruises shoved itself behind a thick mental wall and the deafening pounding in his head evaporated. 

Pain is an illusion, a simple misfiring of the neurons in a nervous system. Pain is an illusion, a trick of the chakra network when it’s been pushed to its limits. 

Katsuya moved on to show him Naruto facing off against Pein, to Naruto defeating Pein, to hundreds of souls flying through the air back into their original bodies. Quite a beautiful color, souls were, all glowing greens and vibrant blues and blinding whites. 

He was surprised his wasn’t black.

His mind flew back towards his father, to the warmth of a campfire, to the darkness that felt freeing, rather than oppressive and suffocating.

Not dead. 

Feeling much more clear-eyed, he plucked his surprisingly intact headband from Choza’s hand with almost impressive dexterity for a recently-dead man, nodding his thanks. 

“Kakashi, how are you able to move right now? There’s no way your chakra or stamina has replenished.”

“I’m fine, Choza. Thanks for your concern, but I have somewhere to be right now.” God, but his voice rasped unpleasantly. Kakashi couldn’t have been dead long enough to decay his vocal cords, right? Shaking away the stray thought, he tied his headband back to in its normal position and tilted it over his closed Sharingan. 

“But Kakashi-sensei!” Choji looked up at him, scrubbing his hands across his wet cheeks. Kakashi grinned at the teen, who was clearly still fighting guilt in his eyes. 

“You did well, Choji. Thank you for following my orders.”

Choji clamped down on an aborted argument, his eyes widening.

“From what Katsuya relayed to me, you were able to get that intel to Lady Tsunade without any other issues. Without you, Naruto would have had much more trouble with Pein.” He laid an only slightly trembling hand upon Choji’s shoulder and squeezed. Choji gave him a watery smile in return.

“Haha…Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. To be honest, I’m just happy you aren’t dead. Thank God…” Tears began running down Choji’s face once more.

He had been, though. Dead. Very dea-

Nope, shut up. 

Still smiling at the young Akimichi, Kakashi drew himself back up to his full height and dusted himself off as best he could. Katsuya split a smaller version of herself from her larger body, and the tiny slug slurped her way from her place on his thigh up underneath his flak vest, coming to rest right on top of his sternum. At his inquiry into the whereabouts of his students, Katsuya sent him a vision of Sakura, a little bit worse for wear, but whole and currently running healing chakra through an injured man. For Naruto, he was given a scene of his blonde idiot running headfirst into the remaining forest. He could feel the weak pulsing waves of the last of Lady Tsunade’s healing chakra that she was releasing into his battered body, even though he was still cutting off the physical hurts. 

“Kakashi.” The sternness in Choza’s voice hit him like a physical blow. “I’ve known you since I could hold you in one palm.” 

Kakashi stared back at him, his eye daring Choza to continue. The Akimichis may not be as quick as the Naras, but they always found out the truth eventually. 

“I know there’s no stopping you. But please, go check with a medic after you’re finished.” Choza looked as though he’d very much like to sit on Kakashi to keep him down, but restrained himself. 

Probably for the best, honestly. Very few people were allowed to sit on the Copy-Nin.

The fact that he had a list of People-Allowed-To-Sit-On-Kakashi was concerning enough. He catalogued that as Future-Kakashi’s mental breakdown. 

Ah, there almost hadn’t been a Future-Kakashi though. The thought was almost comf-

Shut. Up.

Taking stock of his body, Kakashi surmised that nothing was battered enough to hinder him from moving. 

“Ahhh, don’t worry, Choza. I said I was fine. I am fine. But yes!” He added quickly as Choza’s face grew impossibly more intense, “I will check myself out. You see, I wouldn’t want to burden any of our medical staff, when there are villagers and shinobi more injured than I. ”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to get anything better from the false smile of the recently reincarnated in front of him, Choza let out a huff.

“I suppose that will have to do.” He sat back, finally allowing himself to relax since Kakashi drew his first breath again. Kakashi’s laugh was brittle. 

“I’ll be careful, Choza. I always am.”

With his signature wave, Kakashi crouched down and propelled himself into the air towards the remnants of the bright orange chakra of his student.


	2. Ridin' Piggyback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi gives Naruto a piggyback ride, and tries to not have a conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we can start getting into the meat and potatoes of this. Enjoy!

Naruto was heavy.

This could have been for multiple reasons, Kakashi considered. The last time he had carried his student on his back had been when Naruto was a few years younger and puberty hadn’t muscled him up. Or perhaps it was because despite his immense strength and ability, Kakashi had always been more willowy and slighter than the average shinobi build. Asuma used to say that one puff from his wind chakra and Kakashi would be halfway across the Land of Fire. Right after that remark, Asuma would also find himself six feet under with the help of Headhunter Jutsu.

Oh. Bad joke. God, but he was tired. 

But no matter what, Naruto being heavy definitely wasn’t because Kakashi had left this world less than half an hour before and hadn’t completely recovered even half his usual strength. Absolutely not. Preposterous.

He could only imagine how his muscles must be screaming at his stifled nerve endings right now.  
Kakashi kept on towards the cratered village, his leaden legs plodding forward with his precious burden. The boy had all but fallen from exhaustion, and would have if Kakashi hadn’t spent the remaining of the little chakra he had left to land himself right underneath the jinchuuriki. 

He adjusted his grip on Naruto’s legs and hoisted him up a little higher on his back. Naruto wrapped his arms tighter around his shoulders in response, and as he felt the boy smile into the crook of his neck, something new and warm cracked inside of Kakashi.

He hoped it was a metaphorical emotional crack, but it could have just as well been another rib.

His little knucklehead really had grown. Naruto matured more in the span of ten minutes than he had in three years.

“Kakashi-sensei?”

“Hm?”

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

Kakashi’s lips turned up a hint at his student’s voice, but otherwise made no motion that he acknowledged his words.

“You did well, Naruto. I’m proud of you.”

Ah, good, he could dampen down the rasp of his voice a bit. The rattling in his lungs every time he drew breath still bubbled in his ribcage, but as long as none of it came through his voice, he could deal. Naruto shook his head, rubbing his chin into Kakashi’s shoulder. He completely ignored Kakashi’s attempts at changing the subject back to his student.

“In Sage Mode, I can sense chakra now, y’know?” Naruto’s voice was quiet, but clear. Kakashi stayed silent, instead swerving some of his focus on the mental blocks keeping him upright. As it was, he wasn’t sure just how much longer he could keep them active and useful.

“So when I transported to the village, I sensed everyone I could. Sakura, Shikamaru, Tsunade-baachan, you name it. But yours was missing.”

“Naruto, I understand, but that’s over and done with. I’m here and I’m fine, yes? Besides, you’ve grown so mu-“

“Sensei, shut up.” Kakashi was cut off by the surprisingly serious tone of voice. Naruto began playing with an edge of his flak vest. 

“Just…let me finish, alright?”

Kakashi hummed in acquiescence. So they were going to have this conversation now, then. 

“Your chakra was missing, and yours should never be missing because you’re you, you’d do anything to protect the people of the Leaf, and I asked Tsunade-baachan if she had sent you out of the village and she wouldn’t respond, she wouldn’t answer me and so I just knew that-“

He could hear Naruto’s teeth grinding next to his ear. 

“—Just knew that you weren’t around. He got you too.”

Kakashi didn’t know what to say. 

“Pein…he took my master away, and coming back to the village and finding that he took my sensei too…”

Part of his grimy uniform shirt had somehow made its way into Naruto’s grip as he plastered himself even closer to his sensei’s back.

“I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell and curse him dead. I wanted to let everything out and just end him. But-”

His voice cut off. Kakashi glanced out of his uncovered eye at his student, who was very pointedly looking at the ground.

“But?”

“But I didn’t. I had to fight Pein, and to do that I knew I had to keep my cool. I’m so used to going all crazy when I’m pissed, but I couldn’t do that this time. Because if I did then all the plans would have been ruined and Pein would have won. I know now that Nagato had reasons, even if I didn’t agree with them, but…”

Naruto cut off, clearly trying to figure out his words.

“Plus also, I know you would have been yelling at me to keep my head the entire time. To not let my anger take control again, and I swear that’s the only reason I could keep it together, Kakashi-sensei. At least for a while, anyway.”

A little warm spark burrowed out deep from the crack within Kakashi’s chest and pulsed gently. Kakashi quickly tested his mental pain blockers again, checking their strength and finding them weaker than before, but holding. 

“Heh…For half a second, though? I thought that maybe if I could find a way to turn time around and come back to the village earlier, I could stop him from killing you.”

The last two words were whispered; Naruto was barely able to get them out.

“Ah…well then, maybe I can alleviate some of that misplaced guilt for you?” Kakashi chuckled mildly.

“Huh?” Naruto’s chin lifted off his shoulder. Kakashi could feel his wide eyes staring at his head.

“Technically, Pein didn’t kill me, Naruto. It’s not that he didn’t come close, though. Almost had a nail through my Sharingan for my troubles.” Kakashi laughed. Naruto stayed deadly silent, apparently finding no humor in that statement. 

Kakashi paused, trying to gather his words in a more sensible state.

“I was trapped under rubble, unable to move at all. One of the Peins we were fighting had left us alone, running off for some new information. Choji was alive and mobile, so I sent him off to Lady Tsunade to report the intel we now had on Pein.”

Kakashi worked up some saliva and swallowed to wet his throat a bit. 

“The Pein we thought was down and out turned out to…not be so. He sent a projectile after Choji, and there was no time for him to dodge or duck. So I used the Mangekyou.” 

He pretended not to hear Naruto’s hitch of breath. 

“I was out of chakra, you see. I knew if I used it again, that would be it. But I used it anyway.”

He could feel Naruto’s head come to rest on the back of his own, his nose pushing into the silver strands of his hair. 

“Why’d you do it, Kakashi-sensei? It’s just…maybe Choji could have gotten out of the way, you didn’t have to sacrifice…you could have been…” Naruto’s voice dropped out. Kakashi stared at the ground in front of him, his eye growing distant. More and more patches of sun were beginning to stream through the thinning trees, creating a dappled carpet of warm light.

“I suppose…it’s like you said, Naruto.” He smiled ruefully at himself. “I’d do anything to protect the people of the Leaf.”

He tapped Naruto’s thigh where it was wrapped around his waist. 

“Like Choji…and you included.”

A long moment passed. It was strange not to hear the chirping of birds or the whistle of the wind through the trees, Kakashi mused.

Naruto hit his forehead against the back of Kakashi’s head. Kakashi stumbled, eye going wide as the surprisingly gentle blow knocked his mental blocks about a bit more than he had expected. 

“Hey! What was that-“

“Idiot sensei.”

Naruto buried his face into Kakashi’s shoulder, and took a deep breath. Kakashi could feel his student’s mouth move as he spoke against the fabric of his shirt. 

“If you’re protecting the people of the Leaf, then who is going to be there to protect you?”

Nobody, his mind supplied helpfully. But Naruto’s muffled voice was the clearest thing he had heard today.

“Next time, don’t be so damn reckless, Kakashi-sensei. You gotta be by my side if I’m gonna become Hokage. You can’t do that if you do stupid stuff like this.” 

Kakashi could feel strange little pinpricks of pain in his chest, and realized that Naruto had dug his nails into his chest while clasping onto his shirt. 

Pain. Oh, he didn’t have much time left at all then.

“You’re not allowed to go away again.”

His nails dug in deeper. Kakashi flashed back to the campfire, the warmth, and the darkness. 

“You hear me, Kakashi-sensei?” 

Kakashi could almost see the edge of the forest, and the beginnings of what used to be home.

With a resigned sigh, Kakashi leaned his head against Naruto’s. 

“I hear you, Naruto.”


	3. Flying or Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi's barriers crash down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story went a direction I didn't expect, and so one more chapter is on the way. I hope you enjoy!

Watching Naruto’s face change from trepidation to utter shock as the village walked toward him cheering his name was quite honestly the best thing Kakashi had seen today. Possibly the best thing he’s seen in weeks. Months. In a way, it feels like a culmination of his own teachings have finally come to fruition, and he’s so damn _proud_ of his student. 

He stepped back a decent distance next to a surprisingly still-standing tree as the crowd engulfed Naruto, everyone wanting to give him a shout of thanks, a high five, or a full-on hug. Through the smiling faces and arms raised in celebration, Kakashi could just make out Naruto’s apprehension morph to the same joy and light-heartedness the villagers shared with him. 

Good. He deserved it. Naruto deserved everything after what he had just accomplished. 

Kakashi’s mental blocks crumbled to dust.

He slumped back against the tree trunk. The bodily aches and pains swelled up again in a crashing tidal wave, and he could feel his ribs, his midsection, his legs, arms, everything, dammit, everything crush in on himself. 

Shit, that hurt.

He bit his lip to conceal a groan that barely escaped his lungs; the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself in this perfect moment of moments. Cataloguing in his mind, he wrapped one arm (broken wrist likely, sprained at best) around his midsection (broken ribs, at least two, probably more) in an effort to support himself as he curled over instinctively (potential internal injuries, optimistically deep internal bruising). His legs shook incessantly (dislocated knee, definitely strained tendons and ligaments and bruised as hell) and he grasped the tree with his other hand to keep him upright.

Damn, this was worse than he thought. Kakashi’s mind swam, trying to focus on the celebratory scene in front of him even as he slowly lost the battle with his body. His chakra had been drained to almost empty, and he dared not use any more to keep himself up unless he really wanted to die twice in one day. 

Well, on second thought, he wouldn’t mind feeling the warmth and hearing the soothing crackling of that campfire one more time. 

To be fair, this wouldn’t be a bad way to go, in the end. Leaning against a tree of Konoha with his Sharingan spinning and the remains of his chakra leaking out, recording the village throwing his idiot-savant student and the newly named hero up in the air in celebration, it’s better than what Kakashi had expected for his death. Honestly, he couldn’t ask for a more joyful scene to leave on. Some part of his brain was screaming at him in wordless disagreement, the same part that wanted him to believe that Naruto and the rest were still in need of him.

The pull of the campfire ached within him, however. It felt almost trance-like how slowly his hand moved from where it wrapped around his stomach to rest on his crooked hitae-ate. He began to lift it up. 

Fingers encircled his wrist and entrapped him in a gentle grip,

“Rival.”

The fog encircling his mind clears a moment at the touch and the shockingly quiet voice. From his bent over stance, his currently open eye slowly focuses on a strip of red fabric over a green monstrosity of a jumpsuit that stands before him. His eye lazily travels up the endless field of eye-sore green to a broad chest and taut shoulders that connect to-

Ah. Gai.

Stunning.

“Kakashi.” Gai pressed again, a hint more urgently than before. The man slowly unhooked Kakashi’s fingers from around his hitae-ate and brought them back down to his side. His eyesight went fuzzy again, but he felt Gai grip his forearm in an effort to stabilize him.

Kakashi shook his head in an effort to clear it. Ohhhhhh, bad idea. He imagined that this is what it felt like if an Aburame’s insects swam around in your brain.

“Kakashi!” Gai’s voice broke through his swirling thoughts and he finally looked up into the man’s eyes. 

Gai’s eyebrows were drawn together in concern. That was odd in and of itself. Gai was never worried. 

“Oh…Gai.” Kakashi thought he should have something better to say to his longest rival. Nothing else came to him though.

“It’s good to see you on your feet, Rival. Though I have to say, you look as if death decided to pay you a visit or two.” Gai’s weird speech affectations still pounded through his head, but his voice was soft, almost tender. Kakashi found it within him to shrug.

“Death and I are…a bit more well acquainted than before.” He managed to get out. Gai’s eyes widened, before narrowing in a frown.

“From what I can gather, you’re running on empty, Kakashi. Let’s keep that covered for now, shall we?” Gai tapped his hitae-ate right over his Sharingan. “Unless you’re rushing to meet him again. We haven’t made that a challenge yet, Rival!” 

Kakashi huffed out what could have been a laugh but felt more like a cough. His knees, which had already been screaming at his foolhardiness at standing this entire time, finally gave in on themselves. The only thing that saved him from crumpling to the ground was Gai’s hand on his arm, which tightened and pulled up as Kakashi gave his best impersonation of a rag doll. Gai bent to his level and gently guided Kakashi down, supporting his head and shoulders to lean him against the tree. 

Kakashi dug his nails into his palm, breathing heavily. Now that his thoughts weren’t trying to eat him alive, he realized just how close he had been to doing something extremely idiotic, even for him. He mentally berated himself for even considering such a thing.

Gai was unzipping Kakashi’s flak vest, which revealed Katsuya who had remained hidden on his chest this whole time. She had stopped pushing healing chakra into his body some time ago ever since she ran out, but stayed with him regardless. Kakashi’s mind barely registered a muffled conversation between the slug and the man leaning over him, and winced when Gai’s hands came up around his ribcage and sides, pressing gently and methodically to check what damage had been done. 

That was a good question, actually. How much damage had he sustained? He faintly remembered cataloguing his injuries, but his mind was too muddled to remember the specifics. Katsuya had moved up from Kakashi’s chest to his collarbone, her soft wavering voice still oozing into his ears. Gai’s soothing hands moved to his solar plexus and chest, and he had straddled Kakashi’s leg in order to more easily continue his examination. That was just fine, Kakashi mused. Gai was on the list of People-Allowed-To-Sit-On-Kakashi. Actually, Gai had been first on the list. He was pretty sure the man had been first since the mental list had been created.  


“-ashi. Hey, Kakashi.”

His attention drew back to the insane eyebrows framing his rival’s face, and he narrowed his eye in an effort to keep focused. Gai’s hand moved to cup the side of his face and turn him towards him, his thumb unconsciously brushing his temple. 

“Your precious student is right here, Rival. Stay still, so she can have a proper look!” 

Indeed, when Kakashi actually physically sought out his student, Sakura was right there to his other side. He cursed himself for not noticing before; her pink hair was something that he usually caught on to immediately. He must be in worse shape than he originally thought. Even so, he found himself wanting to tell her to not worry about him; that she should save her chakra and her skills for someone who needed it more, who was closer to death than he was. 

As he inhaled to let her know, Sakura’s gaze snapped to his eye with a ferocious protective glare. Kakashi’s words died before they even left his throat.

Sensing some change in him, Sakura gave him a quick warm smile before her expression switched back to all business. Her green eyes held nothing but intense professionalism as she opened his vest up even more to get a better look.

“Gai-sensei, would you mind keeping him still, just in case? I doubt he’s in any shape to protest, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” 

Kakashi would have liked to say that that was unnecessary. He hadn’t planned on escaping any time soon, but his mouth no longer responded to his brain signals and all he could make out was a tiny groan of discomfort. Nevertheless, the infamous Blue Beast had already carefully maneuvered Kakashi so that his head was resting in the crook of Gai’s elbow, and Gai’s hands could settle as comfortable weights on his limp shoulders. 

“I’ve got him, Sakura. You can continue!” Gai’s voice slung through his muzzled thoughts again, and Kakashi opened his eye (since when had he closed it?) to see Sakura’s glowing hands begin to press into his ribs. 

Bone knitting never felt good, even with the best of medical ninja. It’s as if tiny spiders had lashed the broken pieces of bone with webbing and began pulling the fragments together at an excruciatingly slow pace. Kakashi shut his eye tightly and involuntarily tensed in Gai’s hold as Sakura’s chakra began flooding his system. Bone, muscle, and organs began slowly creeping their way back to where they were supposed to be, and each internal shift had him squirming uncomfortably. With a quick word from Sakura, Gai’s hands tightened around Kakashi’s shoulders and quelled his slight movements. 

Even so, the tingling prickles of chakra swirling through his body kept him from relaxing in Gai’s arms. Though he could no longer move much, his muscles contracted and released with each pulse of healing chakra. One of Sakura’s hands left his chest, and he opened his eye to see her ordering Gai to do…something. At this point, Kakashi’s pulse pumping in his ears was the loudest thing he had heard in hours. Gai must have heard her, though. Someone was taking his hitae-ate off, and Gai’s fingers quickly covered his Sharingan like a makeshift eye-patch. 

How silly. He wasn’t going to open it this time, Kakashi thought. He knew better now. No matter how warm and comforting the campfire was, Kakashi knew not to seek it out just yet. Gai’s arms and Sakura’s chakra were warm enough for him.

With no warning, Sakura’s hand was in his field of vision covering his forehead. Pressing into his temples, she sent out two pinpricks of chakra that zipped through his mind, leaving him sleepy and disjointed. His eye closed, and unconsciousness swept him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I love exploring what other characters think about death. One more to go! Please comment/critique if you wish. Thanks again!


	4. Keeping Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi finds a new blaze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we’ve finally come to the end! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything longer than a thousand words, so this was great practice. I hope you all don’t mind this extra chapter, but I felt it was needed to bring the main metaphor around to complete the circle. Please enjoy!

Kakashi almost preferred the sleep of chakra exhaustion to regular sleep. With chakra exhaustion, he was usually too tired to dream, and no dreams meant no nightmares. After the past day he had had, that was probably for the best.

Waking up from that type of sleep was a whole other issue, however. When his students had asked him about it back when all three still considered him their sensei, he likened it to waking up in sleep paralysis.

Kakashi only realized he had finally crossed that threshold when he utterly failed to force his own eyes open. The static drowning his ears buzzed incessantly as he tensed against his prickling unresponsive body. He tried to move his pointer finger, but the floating sensation only grew worse and the roaring became overpowering. Whisperings surrounded his head, speaking in menacing tongues he would never understand. He would not panic. He would not panic. He was so cold. He would not panic. Oh god, everything closed in on him and he was still so so cold.

Damn it, move! Move!

The static pulled him back into the frozen wasteland of unconsciousness before he could even breathe.

The next time Kakashi surfaced, he expected the paralysis and managed to keep his panic to a minimum. Instead of worrying about moving, he focused on regulating his breathing in a three-two-one pattern, keeping himself as calm as possible. Slowly, impossibly slowly, Kakashi gained enough awareness to begin to notice the room around him.

To his immense relief, smell came back to him first. Sweat, grime and dust fill the stale air around him, but the tinge of antiseptic, freshly hewn logs, and ramen invaded his nose as well.

Antiseptic: he must be somewhere with limited medical supplies.

Wood: the village had been decimated the last time he checked. Rebuilding should be a priority.

Ramen: Naruto must be nearby. The boy had such a strong aura of the smell constantly surrounding him, Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised if he sweat the stuff.

His hearing began to finally emerge from the encroaching buzz still eating away at his personal space. Footsteps passed intermittently close by and the murmur of voices giving orders, discussing tasks, and laughter brought him further out of the dark. Therefore he was in the village proper, since there was no sound of tree leaves waving in the wind. A flutter of paper caught his attention next, coming from above him slightly to the right. Odd, but it didn’t set his instincts off.

A shuffle of fabric (burlap, from the heaviness of the sound) caught his attention next, and footsteps walked closer to him. He lay in a tent, then. A body settled next to his left side in the dirt, and a voice finally drew him officially into the land of the living.

“I came to check on you two. How’s he doing?” Sakura’s voice came from the figure that had just sat down.

“Hey, Sakura! I’m pretty sure he’s all right. I think he tried to wake up once if that’s what you’re asking, but it doesn’t seem like he’s in a ton of pain.” Naruto’s voice came from right above him. With his overly loud proclamation, the remaining static filling Kakashi’s head melted away, as did his inability to move. He felt now that he was lying down on his back, arms at his sides.

The sharp pains that had been coursing through his body the last time he remembered being awake were dulled. Kakashi’s limbs and torso felt more like one massive bruise that pulsed in time to the beat of his heart. The ground was hard as stone even through the slim protection that the sleeping mat gave him, but his head was elevated upon something softer. Breathing in, he felt the rough paper of a medical mask covering his face. A blanket covered him, but even so, all of the heat felt leached from his body. He found himself wishing for the blaze of the campfire at least one more time.

Rough fingers carded through his hair. Shit, that felt surprisingly good.

“That’s great! If he’s already trying to wake up, then he won’t be out of commission as long as I thought.” Sakura’s voice came again, and this time her hands followed. She lifted the blanket that had been draped over him and placed her hands directly onto his bare chest, beginning to run a basic diagnostic with her chakra. The energy flowing into him began to heat him up internally, and he bit the side of his cheek to keep from groaning at the sensation.

“You know, you don’t have to stay here with him if you don’t want to. He has a pillow he can use, idiot.”

“Sakura, have you actually used those pillows? They are literal rocks. Worse than rocks. Like rocks that decided to petrify into harder rocks. He’d wake up with a massive headache! He doesn’t need that in his life.”

Kakashi’s current ‘pillow’ moved with Naruto’s words, and Kakashi suddenly realized why ramen had been so prevalent in his nose. Naruto’s thigh was saving his aching head from the ice cold ground a few inches below him.

“If that’s what you want to do, sure. But don’t come running to me when your butt is numb from sitting in one place.” Kakashi could practically feel the eye roll vibrating off of the medical ninja.

“Can you help me turn him on his side for a moment, Naruto?”

“Yeah, yeah! One sec.”

Kakashi heard the fumble of pages and the soft thump of a book being set aside. Two sets of warm, steady hands surrounded his torso and smoothly turned him over onto his side. His cheek came to rest back on Naruto’s thigh, bunching the papery medical mask in a precarious position on his almost-revealed face. Naruto quickly readjusted the mask.

“Did you look at his face?” Sakura asked, and Kakashi felt her hand press into his back, balmy chakra pointed at his spine.

“Nope!”

“Naruto! I thought you of all people would be the one-“

“Bushy-Brows-sensei said if I tried, he’d end me with the sixth gate.”

“There’s no way Gai-sensei would find out!”

“Sakura, you don’t get it! He knows everything! Literally everything! He said it didn’t matter if I saved the village, he would know and he would have no issues ‘kicking my youthful ass all the way to Suna to defend my wounded Eternal Rival’s honor’. I’m not chancing that! I’ve never seen him look so serious!”

Sakura’s peals of laughter bubbled down into the healing chakra swirling inside Kakashi’s back, and the spikes of uncomfortable aches still trapped in his spine dropped away. He struggled to keep silent as the pain abated, almost letting out a squeak at how much better he felt. Strangely, the glow that was building in his chest only flared up higher.

“Ah, there we go! Those were troublesome to get rid of before. I was worried he’d have to work those kinks out himself.”

Her hand traveled up his back and right to the base where his spine met his skull. She gently pushed there with a couple fingers, and he almost gasped as the hot, hot chakra she emitted burned through the chilled strain in his core. His throbbing headache subsided immensely. Kakashi fell completely boneless from the relief, his head now feeling very heavy, cloudy, and way too comfortable.

Who needed a campfire when this existed?

“What was that? He just went even more limp!” Naruto’s voice echoed a hint of concern.

“New technique I’ve been working on.”

“Huh?”

“Now when he wakes up, he hopefully won’t deal with the paralysis issues of chakra exhaustion. I started working on it the last time he was an idiot and dropped himself in the hospital for exerting himself too far. I figured if he wasn’t going to stop any time soon, I could at least make the recovery a little easier.”

Naruto chuckled as they rolled Kakashi back over onto his back. He took his time repositioning his teacher’s head on his thigh.

“He really is an idiot, isn’t he.” he murmured fondly.

“Yes. Yes he is.” Sakura’s voice sparkled with a wicked smirk. “At least we know where you get it from now.”

“Hey! Sakura, you don’t have to be so mean!” Naruto laughed despite himself.

Sakura pulled the blanket back up over Kakashi’s shoulders. Her hand lingered on his wrist and she tapped three times on his pulse point.

She knew he was awake. Of course she did. Kakashi cursed himself internally; he really was an idiot. She was a medical ninja; of course she knew how chakra flowed while awake versus asleep. She’d known from the moment she laid a hand on him.

Kakashi mentally prepared himself for the dressing-down his student would be more than willing to give him. Instead, Sakura’s hand squeezed his wrist softly, and she tucked the blankets more securely around his wiry frame.

“When he wakes up, we’ll let him knew just how bone-headed he is. And we’re gonna have to do something about his stupid martyr complex.” She admonished. Kakashi’s ears burned, but he chanced a small smile underneath his temporary mask. Sakura leapfrogged in his mind immediately to take the title of ‘Favorite Student’ away from Naruto.

“Well it better be soon. After the crap he pulled with almost dying again, I’ve got some shit to say to him.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t be in any position to move. We can yell at him all we please.” Sakura sounded entirely way too pleased with herself.

Kakashi resolved to pretend to be asleep for the rest of his days.

“I need to get back to Lady Tsunade’s side. Send a clone to get me when he finally decides to join the living?” Sakura squeezed his shoulder, and stood up from her position at his side.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Naruto agreed. The burlap tent flap opened up, and Sakura left them alone.

The two of them sat in the silence for a while. Kakashi let himself fall deeper into the foggy contentment that Sakura’s healing jutsu had sent him to. Naruto’s hand came up back into Kakashi’s hair, stroking through the silver strands and combing them out. Eventually his fingers found the crown of Kakashi’s head, and within thirty seconds of him gently massaging his aching skull Naruto bulldozed his way back into the ‘Favorite Student’ spot. He heard the kid pick up his book again from where he had placed it on the dirt floor.

Kakashi had almost drifted back to blissful sleep when Naruto’s fingers suddenly stopped creating little whirlpools in his scalp. He heard the book close, and felt his student bend over his head.

“Kakashi-sensei, you’re not as sneaky as you think you are. And if you ever try to carry me when you’re that hurt again, I’ll break your legs myself.” Naruto murmured solemnly.

Kakashi’s breath hitched and his stomach dropped.

If he couldn’t even fool Naruto, he must be more unbelievably off-kilter right now than he thought. He held his breath for a few seconds, before giving up and giving in with a sigh. He burrowed down, pressing further into Naruto’s thigh.

Naruto let out a quick snicker and his fingers mercifully continued their tranquilizing kneading in his teacher’s hair.

“Don’t worry about it, Kakashi-sensei. You woke up earlier than Sakura thought so we didn’t have time to write our lectures out yet.”

Kakashi finally allowed himself to groan. Naruto laughed harder.  
“You’ll be fine, baka-sensei! If we were really upset we’d have gotten Bushy-Brows-sensei in here to talk about your lack of power of youth a while ago.”

Kakashi shivered. God, thank you for merciful students.

Despite his deep desire to just go back to sleep, he set about cranking open his eyes, finding his Sharingan covered yet again by a bandage. Damn, they really didn’t trust him with himself at all.

An orange blurry Naruto loomed over him through his normal eye though. Kakashi stared for a second, reminded suddenly of a blazing fire he had shared with his father not too long ago. A wave of safety he hadn’t felt since dying yesterday hit him, and he inhaled shakily. Kakashi barely had enough time to glance around the small private tent before Naruto’s warm hand came up over his vision and closed his eye once again.

“Kakashi-sensei, don’t even worry about anything right now. You need to go back to sleep, you hear? Sakura and I have everything under control. You just kick back for a bit and let us do the work.”

Kakashi tried to fight Naruto’s hand for a few seconds more before deciding that if he was going to end up living this second-chance life anyway, it would probably be easier if he just acquiesced. Kakashi turned on his side with only minimal grimacing and a helping hand from his student. In an unprecedented moment of trust, he curled into himself closer to Naruto until he was almost in his lap. Naruto kept one hand in his hair while curling the other around his sensei’s shoulders and back.

“Go to sleep, sensei.” Naruto’s voice was the softest he’d ever heard. Kakashi found himself relaxing in his student’s hold, and let his mind go.

He felt warm.

The campfire could wait a little longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope that you all enjoyed this as much as I had fun writing it. I’m happy to take any ideas/prompts that one can come up with, and writing this has given me a fair few to explore as well. See you next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Someday I'll write something that doesn't rely on canon story. But for now, I really enjoy running with what Kishimoto already gave us and expanding upon it. Comments are appreciated, I always worry about being too wordy sometimes. Damn, I love commas. 
> 
> Thanks!


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